Month: May 2016

Despite 21,500 fans present at Benito Juarez Olympic Stadium for the 2nd leg of the Ascenso MX Promotion Final between Bravos de FC Juarez and Necaxa their presence was hardly felt when it mattered. While the atmosphere could be described simply as electric as much as 3 hours prior to the start of the match, those elements that a strong home crowd brings to a home field advantage were nowhere to be found.

As soon as the match was underway at 7 pm on Saturday evening, that special feeling in the air that was supposed to carry FC Juarez and unsettle Necaxa for 90 minutes was replaced be as sense of nervousness and insecurity that you could cut with a knife all throughout Benito Juarez Olympic Stadium.

Yes, the best fan base in all of Ascenso MX failed when the time came to make its presence felt and those negative vibes got worse with every passing minute.

A lot of lessons were learned last night as a result of the defeat suffered by FC Juarez, lets hope the FC Juarez faithful learned theirs…to have confidence in you team at all times and to come with it and execute you roll as the 12th man in the biggest of stages.

The Promotion Trophy for the Ascenso MX will be on display starting today until game time on Saturday at different points throughout Ciudad Juarez. People will be able to get up close and personal with the trophy and take pictures. On Saturday the trophy will be on display outside of Benito Juarez Olympic Stadium starting at 3 pm until the time the match begins at 7 pm.

This display at the stadium on Saturday will be the most feasible for fans crossing the border into Juarez to get see the trophy and take pictures.

The match versus Necaxa on Saturday will determine what team get promoted into Liga MX , Mexico’s premier soccer division.

Bravos de FC Juarez has become the symbol of promise and hope for Ciudad Juarez. Since the beginning of their inaugural season last July, this soccer club has been the talk of the town, while also growing in popularity in El Paso and Las Cruces.

Well that buzz has been enough to capture the attention of some national and international media outlets.

Over the course of the last 6 months 3 media outlets have captured the story of FC Juarez on video & print and they have done it magnificently. Their pieces educate their audience on the what was a terrible era that was lived just across the border a little more than half a decade ago and talk about the slow but steady resurrection of a city highlighted by the joy that FC Juarez has given to the citizens of the city and region in the span of just a little more than 9 months.

These media outlets were ESPN Deportes, Copa90.com one of the most popular soccer websites throughout the world and Vice Sports.

The piece on Vice Sports was written by Robert Andrew Powell. Powell wrote the book This Love Is Not For Cowards: Salvation and Soccer in Ciudad Juarez back in 2012 and has become an expert on what it was to live in Juarez during the drug wars and what soccer means to its citizens.

Necaxa defeated Bravos de FC Juarez tonight by the score of 1-0 in the first leg of the Ascenso MX Promotion Final. The goal came in the 77 minute of play when a strike taken by Jahir Barraza was deflected by a Bravos defender changing the ball’s trajectory directly into the back of the net.

The match’s lone goal came at time in the match where Bravos was starting to take control of the match, threatening with increased frequency and generating the best chances on goal between the teams up to that point.

The Bravos will now have to overcome the 1-0 deficit next Saturday at Benito Juarez Olympic Stadium in order to be promoted to Liga MX.

Only 2 major sports bars in El Paso will be showing the Necaxa-FC Juarez match later this evening at 7 pm. These two bars will be Pockets and Ojos Locos. Spoke with both General Manager of Ojos Locos and they informed me that there will be a small cover due to the UFC fight card going on tonight, approximately $5.

There will be no cover at any of the Pockets locations.

The GM’s for both franchises notified me that while initially the UFC may have preference in the establishments because it is a pay-per-view event, majority will rule as far as how many televisions will be turned on to either the Bravos match or the UFC.

The Necaxa-FC Juarez match will be nationally televised in the United States. The opening match of the home and home series between the Bravos de FC Juarez and Necaxa to determine what club gets promoted into Mexico’s premier soccer division, Liga MX, will be televised on Gol TV live on Saturday Night at 7:00pm MST. Gol TV is available on Direct TV Channel 648 and Time Warner Cable 960.

Tomorrow afternoon I will post a list of sports bar in El Paso that will broadcast the match.

Yesterday shortly after 7 pm the front office for Bravos de FC Juarez announced that the Promotion Final match that is scheduled to take place May 21st at Benito Juarez Olympic Stadium has sold out. Tickets to the general public went on sale on Monday morning at 9am at La Rodadera (Juarez’s children museum) and were all sold in less than 10 hours.

Approximately 10,000 tickets were made available to the general public, after season ticket holders had first opportunity to get their tickets over the course of last week (About 10,000 season tickets were sold completing the 20,000 seat capacity of Benito Juarez Olympic Stadium).

People began lining up outside La Rodadera since 8am on Sunday morning and camped out throughout Sunday and overnight to get their tickets when they went on sale at 9am Monday morning. People came as far as from California to get tickets for what is without a doubt going to be the biggest soccer match to ever take place in the Borderland.

The Mexican Soccer Federation just released the dates and times for the 2016 Promotion Final matches that will take place between Bravos de FC Juarez and Necaxa.

The first match will take place on Saturday, May 14th at Estadio Victoria in Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes at 8pm local time (7:00pm MST). The closing match will take place one week later on Saturday, May 21 at Benito Juarez Olympic Stadium at 7:00pm local time.

Necaxa earned the right to play FC Juarez to determine which franchise gets promoted to Liga Mx, Mexico’s premier soccer division, when they tied Mineros de Zacatecas on Saturday 0-0 but won the series 2-0 aggregate score when Necaxa beat Mineros in Zacatecas last Wednesday night by that score.

Tickets went on sale to the general public or the match that will take place in the Borderland on May 21st at 9am this morning. As of about one hour ago there were only tickets left in one section of Benito Juarez Olympic Stadium. The match is expected to sell out.

With 9 days to go until match one of the Promotion Final, the Bravos de FC Juarez continue to prepare for the what will be the 2 most important matches in their young history. The Bravos have been training in the early part of the day all week at their training facilities and reports out of the camp are that the team is completely health with no players having any kind of nagging injuries. Here are the most notable news to come out the FC Juarez front office:

-Over the course of this week that is coming to a close, tickets for the promotion final at Benito Juarez Olympic Stadium have been distributed to season ticket holders. Tickets for the general public, which are estimated to be about 10,000 will go on sale early next week. The price range will be from approximately 250 pesos to 1300 pesos (about $15 to $81).

-FC Juarez will have a final preparation match against first division team Tigres from the city of Monterrey on Saturday. The squad for Tigers will be made up of a combination of their under 17, under 20 and a few players from their primary squad. The match will take place behind close doors with no access to members of the media or the public.

-FC Juarez announced on Wednesday that there will be a mass in dedication to FC Juarez that will take place at the Cathedral of Cd. Juarez located downtown this coming Sunday at noon. FC Juarez players, front office and staff will be in attendance. The public is invited to attend.

-Necaxa defeated Mineros de Zacatecas, in Zacatecas, by a score of 2-0 on Wednesday night in match one of the 2016 Clausura Final. The deciding match will take place in Aguascalientes on Saturday night with the home team having a 2 goal lead.

The Bravos de FC Juarez will have the home field advantage in the 2-match home & home final series to determine what team will be promoted from the Ascenso MX League to the Liga MX, Mexico’s premier soccer division. The team from the Borderland will host the second game of this series, this is due to Leones Negro being defeated by Mineros de Zacatecas just minutes ago in the semi-finals of the 2016 Clausura playoffs.

Mineros and Nexcaxa will now face off in the finals of the 2016 Clausura season (those 2 matches will be played sometime in the middle of this upcoming week and next weekend) with the winner playing Bravos to determine what franchise gets promoted to first division.

Both Mineros and Necaxa earned fewer regular season points than FC Juarez over the course of both the 2015 Apertura and 2016 Clausura seasons thus giving FC Juarez home field advantage in the promotion series. Leones Negros who is now eliminated was the only team to earn more regular season points than FC Juarez over the course of both seasons.

The official dates for the 2-match promotion series are to be determined on May 9th when representative from FC Juarez and Mineros or Necaxa will fly to Mexico City to discuss all of the details & logistics behind the promotion series.